‘I don’t trust people easily’: Xander Schauffele reveals Jay Monahan doubts after PGA-PIF agreement
Xander Schauffele “doesn’t stand alone” in lacking trust in PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan over the circuit’s proposed agreement with the Public Investment Fund.
Schauffele spoke ahead of his Genesis Scottish Open title defense, a day after PGA Tour representatives Ron Price and Jimmy Dunne appeared at the US Senate to discuss the circuit’s agreement with the PIF.
The tour’s CEO has spent time away from his role due to health reasons, but he is due to return on July 17. Schauffele believes Monahan will have to field more questions on the tour’s future, much like when he hosted an intense player meeting during the week of the announcement.
“We got a memo that he’ll be back on the 17th. If you want to call it one of the rockier times on tour, the guy was supposed to be there for us – wasn’t,” Schauffele said.
“Obviously he had some health issues. I’m glad that he said he’s feeling much better. But yeah, I’d say he has a lot of tough questions to answer in his return, and yeah, I don’t trust people easily.
“He had my trust and he has a lot less of it now. So I don’t stand alone when I say that. He’ll just have to answer our questions when he comes back. It’s a work in process. Usually, when things aren’t great, there’s always something good that can come from it.
“There isn’t much communication right now and things are a little bit unsettling and there is a bit of a divide between management and the players, if you want to call it that, and my hope is that a positive thing coming from that will be more communication, more transparency, and sort of understanding which direction the tour will go with us being sort of the ambassadors of it.”
Jordan Spieth shared a similar view to Schauffele when speaking in North Berwick, concurring that Monahan could have to deal with “trust issues” with players upon his return.
Schauffele said he watched a little bit of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing, which met on Tuesday to discuss the Framework Agreement between the PGA Tour and the PIF.
“I did watch in all honesty, maybe ten, 15 minutes of it. I had to go see the physio and the trainer and get dialled in for today and the rest of the week,” Schauffele added.
READ MORE: 10 key revelations from the PGA-PIF hearing
“We were sent a document, a 276-page document and a link to the hearing. So I will do my homework. I saw the hearing. I clicked on it. It was about three hours and I clicked on that about 10.45 pm last night, and I quickly exited out of it knowing that I wanted to get some sleep in preparation for the tournament week.
“I will listen to it and I will probably not read it all to be completely honest because it’s not my forte. It’s hard for me to comment on everything I heard because I don’t really know a lot about what was talked about and what happened.”
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Matt Chivers
Now on the wrong side of 25, Matt has been playing golf since the age of 13 and was largely inspired to take up the game by countless family members who played golf during his childhood.
Matt is a member at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal playing off a 5 handicap, just a pitching wedge away from his hometown of Dover where he went to school and grew up. He has previously been a member at Etchinghill and Walmer and Kingsdown in Kent.
Having studied history at the University of Liverpool, Matt went on to pass his NCTJ Exams in Manchester a year later to fulfil his lifelong ambition of becoming a journalist. He picked up work experience along the way at places such as the Racing Post, the Independent, Sportsbeat and the Lancashire Evening Post.
Matt joined NCG in February 2023 and is the website’s main source of tour news, features and opinion. He has reported live from events such as The Open, the Ryder Cup and The Players Championship, having also interviewed and spent time with some of the biggest names in the sport.
Consuming tour golf on what is a 24/7 basis, you can come to Matt for informed views on the game and the latest updates on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour and LIV Golf.
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